RECORDINGS

Chemical Brothers Come With Us (Astralwerks...

March 03, 2002|By Greg Kot.

Chemical Brothers

Come With Us (Astralwerks)

Big-beat merchants Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, a.k.a. the Chemical Brothers, bring elements of arena-rock bombast and psychedelia to the dance floor. Their fourth album doesn't expand the formula, with a blend of thunder-dome disco ("Galaxy Bounce") and guest vocalists from the rock world (the former Verve singer Richard Ashcroft and folk-pop singer Beth Orton). The occasional detours are where the interest lies, especially in the tripped-out, nearly beatless atmospherics of "Hoops," but the Chems are less innovators than crowd-pleasers these days.